Written by on Mar 3, 2011. Posted in Production News

Stella Artois doubles Uruguay for 60s French Riviera filming new spot

Uruguay doubles for the French Riviera of the 1960s in a new ad spot for the Stella Artois Triple Filtered, Smooth Escapades campaign. The Train shows a badly-dressed working class man gradually upgrading from a train’s third class carriage up to first as he pursues a pretty girl.

Budapest, Prague and Buenos Aires were all considered as shoot locations, but Uruguay eventually won out – it’s currently among the most cost-effective options in South America. Mother said: “We shot the ad in Piriápolis, a Cote D´Azur look-a-like town in Uruguay, in a train station in San José, one hour from Montevideo. Although the third class carriage interiors were shot in the train on location, the second and first class carriages were sets constructed in Montevideo.”

San José was chosen partly because it had the right kind of architecture for the spot. The train that appears at the start of the ad didn’t actually work, so the production had to use an antique British-made steam engine for the scenes that involved any kind of movement.

The train that appears at the start of the ad didn’t actually work, so the production had to use an antique British-made steam engine for the scenes that involved any kind of movement.

Luli Cordini, the Production Coordinator with Landia, said: “Filming on a train that was 100 years old and having to start and stop it all the time was probably the biggest challenge. It’s not easy to stop a train that dates back to 1910! Otherwise we had no problems. Uruguay is a great place to shoot. The crew are always hard-working.”

Credits
Client: Stella Artois
Agency: Mother London
Production Company: Stink
Production Service Company: Landia (Buenos Aires)
Production Coordinator: Luli Cordini
Production Service Company: Oriental Films (Montevideo)
Production Executive: Diego Robino
Director: Agustin Alberdi